Month: April 2008

As if we didn’t already know, we have yet another piece of evidence that one of the major "accomplishments" of the Bush administration (and you didn’t think there were any) has been a relentless push for more executive power. It is hardly a secret, of course, that "regaining" unbridled and untrammeled executive power has been … Continue reading “Toward Monarchy”

On February 26, 2008, the world-renowned New York Philharmonic orchestra, under the baton of Lorin Maazel, performed works by Wagner, Dvorak, Gershwin, Bizet and Bernstein in Pyongyang, capital city of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. On March 2, 2008, the United States and South Korea launched "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle," joint military exercises, … Continue reading “Aluminum Tubes – The Sequel”

Sen. John McCain is already spreading the old "strategic interests" fertilizer along the presidential campaign trail while pretending to be an expert. Let’s hope he really can explain what interests require us to maintain troops in Germany and Japan 63 years after the end of the war. What exactly is the purpose of those troops? … Continue reading “Strategic Manure”

Updated at 8:49 p.m. EDT, April 4, 2008Although Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stopped threatening more crackdowns, he continues his attempt to reassert his power against Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army. Meanwhile, at least 51 Iraqis were killed and another 37 were wounded in the latest violence. No Coalition deaths were reported. Yesterday, … Continue reading “Friday: 51 Iraqis Killed, 37 Wounded”

Growing tensions between North Korea and the new, more hawkish South Korean government are spurring concern among US experts that already halting progress toward implementation of a denuclearization deal with Pyongyang could unravel. US officials, notably Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Christopher Hill, whose dogged efforts to ensure that the deal goes forward … Continue reading “North Korean Nuclear Deal at Risk?”

Last week’s violent clashes in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Basra reverberated all the way to Washington, where suddenly, the Iraq war was thrust back into the limelight just as the 2008 primary season enters its final stretch. On Monday at the Washington think-tank the Brookings Institution, foreign policy advisers from the major campaigns … Continue reading “Campaigns Spar Over Where to Focus Troops”

"Yes, it was a good war," writes Richard Cohen in his column challenging the thesis of pacifist Nicholson Baker in his new book, Human Smoke, that World War II produced more evil than good. Baker’s compelling work, which uses press clips and quotes of Axis and Allied leaders as they plunged into the great cataclysm, … Continue reading “Was WWII Really ‘The Good War’?”

I have to laugh – otherwise, I’ll never stop crying. In perusing the headlines this morning , trying to decide which fresh disaster to focus on, I’m reminded of what H. L. Mencken had to say about America in the third volume of his Prejudices: “Here, more than anywhere else I know of or have … Continue reading “A Tragi-Comic Cavalcade of Chicanery”

On the small, remote island of Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean halfway between Africa and Indonesia, the United States has one of the most secretive military bases in the world. From its position almost 10,000 miles closer to the Persian Gulf than the east coast of the United States, this huge U.S. air and … Continue reading “Diego Garcia: The Other Guantánamo”

Yes, their defensive zone is the planet and they patrol it regularly. As ever, their planes and drones have been in the skies these last weeks. They struck a village in Somalia, tribal areas in Pakistan, rural areas in Afghanistan, and urban neighborhoods in Iraq. Their troops are training and advising the Iraqi army and … Continue reading “Petraeus’ Grand Delusions”